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Brothers die
in back seat of dad's SUV
East Orange
cops suspect heat killed young boys
Saturday,
August 16, 2003
BY KEVIN C. DILWORTH AND
REGINALD ROBERTS
Star-Ledger Staff
Two young
brothers died yesterday afternoon in East Orange, possibly due to prolonged
heat exposure in a car, according to East Orange police Lt. Raymond Brown.
As of late last
night, police had not identified the 1- and 2-year-old boys, but were
questioning their 38-year-old father, who authorities believe is a customer
service representative at the East Orange Post Office.
At East Orange
police headquarters, seven U.S. Postal Service inspectors and two women from
the Division of Youth and Family Services arrived to talk to police about the
deaths.
The post office
is next door to police headquarters and police went there with one postal
inspector and retrieved a surveillance tape of the post office parking lot,
authorities said. Police were trying to determine if the boys were left in the
post office lot for a prolonged period of time.
Shortly before
4 p.m. yesterday, the boys' father drove his black 1993 Nissan Pathfinder to
the front of a medical building affiliated with East Orange Hospital and banged
on the door for help.
"He yelled
'Help! Help! Help me! I think my kids are dead,'" said Brown.
At least four
emergency service workers immediately responded and found the children dead,
secured in separate car seats in the back of the SUV.
Workers from
the Essex County Medical Examiner's Office removed the boys' bodies from the
scene at 4:30 p.m.
The scene
startled Steve Burroughs, a housekeeper at East Orange General Hospital.
"I saw
this car pull up, this guy jumped out, went to the window, and started banging
on it and the door," Burroughs said. "An EMS worker told him to calm
down. ... He was screaming, 'Oh my God, what am I going to tell my wife?'"
Police are
theorizing the boys might have died from the heat, Brown said.
Between 3 and 4
p.m. yesterday, the temperature was 89 to 90 degrees at Newark Liberty
International Airport, according to the National Weather Service. Temperatures
inside a locked car can climb anywhere from 10 to 20 degrees higher than
outdoor temperatures.
Prolonged
exposure in such cases can result in life-threatening heat stroke in a matter
of minutes. Heat stroke occurs when the body's normal cooling mechanisms break
down and the body temperature rises to dangerous levels.
Though people
of any age can get heat stroke, younger children are more susceptible because
their body cooling mechanisms are less efficient, said Kendall Sprott, vice
chairman of pediatrics at the Children's Hospital of New Jersey at Newark
Beth-Israel Medical Center.
"The
younger the child, the more quickly they are going to dehydrate," he said.
Authorities
often warn parents about the dangers of leaving children in vehicles during
extremely hot weather.
"As the
car heats up, the child attempts to dissipate the heat by sweating,"
Sprott said. "What happens is, as you stay in the high temperature, you
exceed the ability of the body to dissipate the heat."
Sprott said the
car then essentially "becomes like an oven," especially on a day like
yesterday, when the temperatures inside a vehicle can easily reach temperatures
over 100 degrees.
Even cracking
the windows might not be enough to avert a life-threatening heat emergency,
Sprott said.
Two years ago,
a 13-month-old boy died in Sussex County after his mother left him in a car
parked outside her home.
In that case,
prosecutors said Christine Hayes of Lafayette had strapped her baby boy in a car
seat, turned on the Chevrolet Prism's engine, and shut the windows. Then she
left the boy in the car for more than 2 1/2 hours, never turning on the
air-conditioner, prosecutors said. The child's interior temperature rose to 130
degrees and his skin suffered second- and third-degree burns.
Hayes received
a seven-year prison sentence for reckless manslaughter.
Staff writers Angela
Stewart and Jeff Diamant contributed to this report.
Copyright 2003 NJ.com. All Rights Reserved.
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Young brothers die in hot car; father charged
(East Orange, New
Jersey-AP) -- A New Jersey man has been charged in the deaths of his two young
sons, who were left inside an S-U-V on a hot August day.
Authorities say two-year-old Derrick Strothers Junior and one-year-old Dylan
were left strapped in their car seats Friday with the windows rolled up for
about two-and-a-half hours. The temperature was in the upper 80s.
Derrick Strothers has been charged with aggravated manslaughter and child
endangerment.
A prosecutor told The Sunday Star-Ledger of Newark that the circumstances are
still under investigation but "maybe he literally forgot he had them with
him."
Authorities said Strothers had dropped off his wife at her job then headed to
his job as a customer service supervisor at the East Orange post office.
©2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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Father Charged in Deaths of Toddler Sons in
Hot SUV
(East Orange-WABC, August 17, 2003) — Two young
boys died after being left inside a sport-utility vehicle in midday heat, and
now their father is facing aggravated manslaughter and child endangerment
charges.
Derrick Strothers, 38, is an East
Orange postal worker. He was released on $100,000 bail as Essex County
authorities continue to investigate the deaths of his only children, Derrick
Jr., 2, and Dylan, 1.
The prosecutor's office says it may have been an accident,
that Strothers may have actually forgotten he had the children with him and
left them strapped in their car seats in his 1993 Nissan Pathfinder while he
worked at his job Friday afternoon.
"We're still investigating exactly what happened, but
maybe he literally forgot he had them with him. That's what we're trying to
figure out," Howard Zuckerman, assistant Essex County prosecutor, said in
a local newspaper report.
Zuckerman said the boys were in the SUV with its windows
closed from about 12:30 to 3 p.m. Weather forecasts show the temperature came
close to 90 degrees between 3:00 p.m.and 4 p.m.
Medical examiners weren't expected to have a cause of death
until at least Tuesday.
An assistant prosecutor on the case says the boys' bodies
show no sign of previous trauma, and the family has no history of problems with
the state's Division of Youth and Family Services.
Authorities said Strothers had dropped off his wife, Leah,
at her job in Union then headed to his job as a customer service supervisor at
the East Orange post office.
Just before 4 p.m. Friday, he drove the SUV to a medical
building that's part of East Orange Hospital and called for help. Emergency
workers found the boys dead in their car seats.
http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/news/wabc_081703_brothersdeaths.html
Infants' death in SUV
looks to be accidental
While awaiting test
results, investigators suspect man simply forgot about 2 kids
Sunday, August 17, 2003
BY GUY
STERLING AND RUDY LARINI
Star-Ledger Staff
An East Orange postal
worker was released on bail yesterday while investigators awaited test results
on the deaths of his two infant sons, who were left in the back seat of the
family SUV during Friday's midday heat, authorities said.
Derrick Strothers, 38, was
charged by the Essex County Prosecutor's Office with two counts of aggravated
manslaughter and child endangerment in the deaths of his and his wife's only
children, 2-year-old Derrick Jr. and 1-year-old Dylan, county authorities said.
He was released from Essex County
Jail on $100,000 bail.
Investigators said
Strothers may have accidentally left the boys strapped in their car seats in
his 1993 Pathfinder for two hours or more while he was working at his post
office job Friday afternoon.
"We're still
investigating exactly what happened, but maybe he literally forgot he had them
with him," said Howard Zuckerman, the assistant Essex County prosecutor
assigned to the case. "That's what we're trying to figure out."
East Orange 4th Ward
Councilman Zachary Turner, who has known Strothers for three years, said,
"He made a horrible mistake. I don't know why he would do anything like
that."
Zuckerman put the time the
boys were in the Pathfinder from about 12:30 p.m. until 3 p.m. Authorities said
the windows of the sport utility vehicle were shut during those hours. The
National Weather Service reported temperatures in the area at close to 90
degrees between 3 and 4 p.m.
"It does appear from
our initial investigation this was a tragic accident, but we need to be very
careful that there are no other reasons to be concerned," added assistant
prosecutor Carolyn Wright, acting chief of the Essex County office's homicide
squad.
Medical examiners were
still running tests yesterday and would not have a cause of death until
Tuesday, Wright said. She said an examination of the boys' bodies turned up no
sign of previous trauma.
The family has no history
of problems with the state Division of Youth and Family Services, Wright said.
DYFS representatives showed up at East Orange police headquarters Friday to
discuss the deaths with investigators.
"We know what killed
them: being in a hot car for two to three hours, from the looks of
things," said Zuckerman.
Authorities said Strothers
had dropped off his wife, Leah, at her job in Union before driving to the East
Orange post office, where he is a customer service supervisor. He has been with
the postal service for 15 years, with most of that time in Montclair.
Sometime before 4 p.m.,
Strothers drove to the front of a medical building affiliated with the East
Orange Hospital and banged on the door for help. Emergency service workers
found the boys dead in their car seats.
A half-hour later, the
bodies were removed from the car by the Essex County Medical Examiner's Office.
Police interviewed
Strothers' wife Friday evening, said Wright.
Turner said he has known
Strothers from the customer service window at the main post office at Main
Street/City Hall Plaza, next door to City Hall and adjacent to the East Orange
police headquarters on North Munn Avenue.
'He's a pretty nice
guy," Turner said. "He's friendly. I just feel bad that something
like this happened to him and his family."
Turner said of the loss of
the two babies, "It has touched so many people, and you have mothers and
grown men who have broken down in tears because of this.
"To think how these
infants must have suffered, it brings tears to my eyes. I just hope God will
forgive him. Those kids didn't even get a chance to experience life at
all."
Kids and Cars, a national
group that raises awareness about dangers facing children, said the deaths
brought to 32 the number of children who have died in suffocating car
conditions this year.
In 2001, there were 34 such
deaths, and last year there were 30, said Jannette Fennell, the organization's
founder and president. A change in a parent's or a caregiver's routine is the
cause cited most often in the fatalities, she added.
"What we don't do is
call these situations 'freak accidents,' because they happen all the
time," said Fennell, interviewed by telephone from her home in Kansas
City, Mo.
To avoid such tragedies,
Kids and Care suggested that drivers put a teddy bear or some other object in
the front passenger seat as a reminder they have children in the car with them.
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Reserved.
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Father charged in sons'
deaths in hot SUV
Monday, August 18, 2003
From
The Associated Press
EAST
ORANGE, N.J.-- Two young brothers died after being left inside a sport-utility
vehicle in midday heat, and their father was charged with aggravated
manslaughter and child endangerment.
Postal
worker Derrick Strothers, 38, was released on $100,000 bail, and Essex County
authorities continue to investigate the deaths of his only children, Derrick
Jr., 2, and Dylan, 1.
While
Strothers worked, the boys were left strapped in their car seats in Strothers'
SUV with the windows closed for about 2 1/2 hours Friday afternoon, when
temperatures reached the high 80s.
Medical
examiners didn't expect to have an official cause of death until at least
Tuesday, but Zuckerman said the boys apparently died from exposure in the hot
vehicle
Two Boys Expire Forgotten in Locked Car;
Father Faces Charges, Grief
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(Newark-WABC, August 18, 2003) — In New Jersey a father faced a judge
today and pleaded not guilty to the deaths of his two sons.
They died after
being left locked in the car on a hot summer day in East Orange. New Jersey
reporter Anthony Johnson has the story.
We actually started talking about
this story on Friday night, and I've been thinking about it all weekend long.
And I still can't figure out for the life of me, how and why a father would
leave his children inside of a hot parked car, and then absolutely forget about
them.
But that apparently is what happened,
and a family is grieving a loss that is unimagineable.
Jared Strothers is a man dealing with
the anguish of leaving his boys inside of a locked vehicle on Friday, and
allowing them to perish in the sweltering heat.
Today, Strothers had a very visible
look of pain on his face as he sat in the court room next to his wife, who
tried her best to console him.
While they refused to talk, one of
Strothers's neighbors reflected on just how close-knit this family has been.
Al Spearman, Neighbor: "In the
wintertime he'd come out, he'd warm up the car, he'd come back in for the rest
of the family. The thing I noticed most was they walked out as a unit."
A unit that has been destroyed by a
terrible mistake.
Strothers's relatives are standing
beside him. The 38-year-old apparently left the boys inside his SUV as he went
to work at the East Orange post office. He was on the job two to three hours
before remembering that he left his kids behind in the municipal parking lot as
temperatures soared into the 90s.
When Strothers found his children, he
rushed them to the East Orange Hospital, desperately seeking help. But EMTs
could not revive the little boys.
Now Strothers is facing the pain of
losing his children, and the possibility of going to jail.
Howard Zuckerman, Special Dep.
Attorney Gen.: "The charges right now are two counts of aggravated
manslaughter, and two counts of endangering welfare of a child."
The grand jury is considering those
charges while Strothers remains out on bail. Not only is he going through that,
but he is getting ready to bury his two little kids.
http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/news/wabc_081803_hotcar.html